Student Loan Scheme Annual Report to 30 June 2008

Introduction

The purpose of this annual report is to inform Parliament and the public about the performance of the loan scheme and associated trends. It also provides information about the loan scheme’s financial performance from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008.

The report explains the purpose of the loan scheme and changes to it, its role in meeting the goals of the Tertiary Education Strategy and its contribution to increasing participation and achievement in the tertiary education sector, as a component of the student support system.

The report reviews the outcomes of the loan scheme, explains changes to it, and has detailed information about borrowers, and borrowing and repayment trends. Information about the valuation of the loan scheme and forecasting is also provided.

Tables behind graphs and historical data

The data underlying the graphs in this report and tables providing more detailed historical data will be available on the Education Counts website later this year. These tables will be available for downloading in spreadsheet format.

Sources

The information in this report has been developed from data drawn from four principal sources. Each of the three agencies responsible for the loan scheme has supplied data. The information on borrowing is largely drawn from the Ministry of Social Development. Inland Revenue has supplied data on the repayments and loan balances of all borrowers, including those who have left study. Tertiary education data and data on borrowing in the years before 2000 were supplied by the Ministry of Education. Other data has come from Statistics New Zealand’s integrated dataset on student loans and allowances (see details below). Data from these sources has been complemented by information drawn from the Census, the Household Labour Force Survey and other published data sources. Each table and graph states the source of its data.

Ministry of Education research cited in this report can be found on the Education Counts website.

Where data in the tables and graphs is provisional and subject to minor change at a later stage, this is noted.

The integrated dataset

The integrated dataset on student loans and allowances is managed by Statistics New Zealand according to the requirements of the Statistics Act 1975 and following strict privacy protocols that have been developed with guidance from the Privacy Commissioner. Care has been taken to ensure that privacy concerns are met and that the integrity and accuracy of data is maintained.

The integrated dataset combines:

• information collected by tertiary education providers on students, enrolments and courses
• information collected by the Ministry of Social Development on students’ borrowings under the loan scheme and their student allowances payments
• data on student loan balances, repayments, income and tax status from Inland Revenue.
  

The dataset has recently been updated with records up to 31 March 2007.

Nominal dollars

In this report, unless otherwise stated, all financial data is expressed in nominal dollars without adjustment for inflation.

Ethnicity

Statistics on ethnicity and ethnic groups are obtained from student declarations on enrolment and loan application forms. It should be borne in mind when using these statistics that declaration of ethnicity is not mandatory.

Data from 2000

In 2000, responsibility for managing the payment of student loans transferred from the Ministry of Education to the Department of Work and Income (now StudyLink, a service of the Ministry of Social Development). In some areas, new information standards were created at the time of the transfer. As a result, some data series start from 2000, rather than when the loan scheme began in 1992.